Well That Was Unexpected
by mightyboo1
Summary: Zoey Smith's life is rough. Will it get better when Eli comes in? Is she willing to risk her life for a happy ending?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Tear's streaked my face as I held my mother's hand. We were sitting in the hospital, half an hour after she was hit by a truck driver that ran a red light.

"Zoey. I need you to promise me something," she whispered. Her eyes were closed and her once tan skin was a white.

"Anything," I told her with tears in my brown eyes. I got those from her. My olive skin also comes from her. Not much from my dad except my blonde highlights among my light brown hair.

"Take care of Miley. Stay in school. Work at the library. Ms. Brooks will allow you to get all of the wasted books. Promise?" Her blue eyes opened.

"Of course. Anything for you," I answered. My tight grip on her hand went stiff as she closed her eyes. Quickly, I glanced at the monitor's line that represented her heartbeat.

My mom and that line have something in common. They both went dead that night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It's been awhile since my mother passed away. Since then I've gotten a job at the twenty-four hour library, moved to my brother's apartment in downtown Talkin, Florida and have been keeping up my grades. Talk about achievement.

"Zoey? It's about time for work. Shouldn't you start heading out? I've got Miley," my brother Dylan called from the living room.

Before heading out into the hall I peeked into the living room to see that he wasn't lying. "Alright. There's tuna casserole in the oven. I should be back around 10:30. Don't stay up."

Dylan laughed as I shut the door behind me and made my way downstairs. Within a few minutes, I had gotten to the front of Talkin's library.

My thoughts raced as I replayed telling Miley, four, and Dylan, twenty. As an eighteen year old, that was hard. It would be even if you were fifty.

Miley's pale face was covered by her dirty-blonde hair. Her blue eyes only reminded me more of Mom. She had always wanted a blue eyed baby.

Dylan was like me. Strong but fighting the tears. For Miley. Behind his protected brown eyes was a boy in pain. Like Miley, he has dirty-blonde hair.

"Zoey Smith! There you are. Could you put these books away? They are from last week when Toby was here. That boy does absolutely _nothing_," Ms. Brooks greeted me in her usual perky way. She was a chubby woman in her late fifties. Glasses that completed the friendly Mrs. Clause look very well. Kids love her, even if they don't believe in Santa.

I smiled and wheeled the cart to aisle four. As I put books away, I was watching a boy about five glaring at a Harry Potter book. It was pretty funny, seeing as he was attempting to read it upside down.

"Hi. Do you mind?" I asked, flipping the book right side up. A smile from him and I was away again, focusing on putting the books back on the shelf.

Talkin High School. I'm a senior there and working very hard on my grades, trying to keep my promise to Mom. It gets harder with every story about intolerable mothers and curfews. These people are idiots for wishing that their mother would die because they wouldn't let them go to a party, which, by the way, would have no good come of anyway. Honestly, I want to go to their house and tell their mothers that they are doing an awesome job with their children and to maybe be stricter. But that's just my opinion. I can only speak for myself.

"Hi. Is something wrong…Zoey?" a voice behind asked. Spinning on him/her I got a good look of a biker dude sitting next to the little boy I had helped earlier.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Your face looked like you were angry. I'm sorry if I bothered you," the guy said while walking away. I immediately made a straight face and went back to my books.

"You know, he's right. You looked intent on something. Got a problem?" the biker questioned from his seat next to the boy.

"I was pretty intent on putting the books away."

"That's not it. What else? Maybe I can help. My dad is a therapist, you know," he replied. Smiling, I realized he had his arm around the kid and had switched the Harry Potter book with a Dr. Suess one.

"Maybe another time," I answered with a smirk.

The guy smiled. "I'll come by tomorrow. Same time."

"And if I don't show?"

"Then I'll ask the librarian for your schedule."

I couldn't help but laugh. "So if I don't show, you will stalk me?"

"I can get your address, too."

"Why, you're a persistent devil. 5:30 tomorrow. Don't be late," I said.

The guy got up and led the kid to the library door. "Don't be early. And my name is Eli Rickington. Till tomorrow, Zoey." And with that, my life is becoming a tad closer to normal.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

When I first got home to a completely unclean apartment with Dylan sleeping on the chair and Miley on the couch, my date with Eli seemed like it would never happen. But I didn't want to ditch my chance at starting my life again.

"Dylan! What did you do here?" I demanded as quietly as I could so as not to awaken Miley.

"I…don't really know. How was work?" he asked, not making a move to get up and help me clean.

"How was work? That's what you have to say for yourself? You're an idiot," I told him as I opened the microwave to an exploded casserole. "Really, Dylan? Really?"

"Huh. Don't remember that part," he replied. As much of a mess he made, it was kind of funny. Plus, I was going to make him clean that part up.

Dylan smiled along with me. "I'll clean the kitchen and put Miley in her bed. You take the living room." We shook hands and took on the task. He threw the casserole away while I gathered the dirty clothes and took them to the laundry room. I vacuumed while he tucked Miley in and wiped the microwave. He scrubbed the counters and I gathered Miley's toys and put them in her toy box.

It was 11:30 p.m. when we finally finished. We sat down and I told him about Eli.

"You have to go. Have fun for once since you got here. Miley and I promise to keep it clean. I should be back from school around three," Dylan said. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Dylan went to the community college to become a doctor. When I was in school, he would drop Miley off at the colleges' daycare. When I got out of school at two, I would go pick her up.

When I woke up that Saturday morning, I was very excited for my date. Once everyone was up I made pancakes, cleaned the bathrooms, took the trash out, and cleaned everybody's bedroom.

Dylan left for school right after breakfast and called at noon to say he would be an hour late. After that I fixed Miley and I a sandwich, studied for an exam and took a shower.

At exactly four, Dylan walked in the door with the groceries for the week. With a wink, he sent me to get dressed and put everything away.

"Will this work?" I asked as I stepped in Dylan's line of vision. He stared in amazement as he looked over my no-sleeve red mid-thigh dress, straight hair and black two inch heels.

"That'll _definitely_ will. How come I haven't seen that outfit?" he questioned, handing me my black coach purse.That made me smile.

"Fun!" Miley was smiling up at me with her little monkey in her arms. I picked her up and told her that I was going on a date and would be back tonight.

"No tuck-in?"

"When I get home, sweetie," I answered, putting her next to Dylan and heading for the library.

"Hey, Zoey! Where're you off to?" our neighbor Derek Allen greeted from his porch. He and his wife were playing cards.

"The library. For a date."

"Like that? And what kind of date is at a library?" his wife asked. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she studied my outfit like I was wearing a spacesuit.

"Yes, Mrs. Allen, like this," I answered, walking on.

As I walked, I studied each movement I made to make sure I had no chance of falling flat on my face and embarrassing myself in front of Eli.

"Wow, Zoey. You look beautiful. I feel under-dressed compared to you." Eli greeted me with a huge smile. He was dressed in a light blue button up with dress pants and black shoes.

"Thank you. And you look good yourself. Not the least bit under-dressed," I replied as I sat down in the chair next to his. We were in front of the library fireplace, which was lit and burning strongly. It's comfortable heat warmed my body from my walk here.

"Well, you were exactly on time. Nice job," Eli joked.

That made me glance up at the clock. "If I was on time and you were here to greet me, you were early, weren't you? Shame, shame, Eli," I teased back.

We laughed as Eli made the fire's flame bigger by tossing on another log. "Did you walk here?"

"Yes," I replied. "I live just a couple minutes up the road. How 'bout you?"

"Drove. I live down on Rosemary Lane. It's about five miles south of here."

"That's cool. So where do you go to school?" I asked.

"Sophomore at Talkin High School. You?"

"Me too."

"Cool. Want to go see a movie? After dinner, of course. Scary movies are not fun on an empty stomach," Eli said.

I jumped up. "I love scary movies! Let's go!" I took his hand and pulled him to his feet. We ran out of there and took his truck to the diner right next to the theatre.

Everything went up from there. We hit it off during dinner and laughed throughout the movie while everyone else freaked.

We were on Main Street in front of the apartment. "This is it. I share with my brother and little sister."

"Where are your parents?" he asked.

I fought back the tears. "My father left when my four year old sister Miley was being born. About a month ago my mom died in a car accident. Now I live with Dylan, my brother," I explained.

Eli reached over and hugged me. "I'm sorry. It's really none of my business."

"That's okay. Well, I should go. We should do this again. Here," I said, writing something down and giving it to him. "It's my number. Call anytime. See you in school Monday, probably."

Just as I was getting out of the truck, he pulled me back into a hug and kissed me lightly on the lips for about three seconds. "Goodbye, Zoey. Till Monday."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

On Sunday Eli called to ask me to go out to dinner with him at the same diner as Saturday. We talked about family and friends, problems that we need help with and our likes and dislikes. I know that Mom would have approved.

During work on Monday Eli came in. He was with his little brother, the little boy that had attempted to read Harry Potter Friday. Later that evening Dylan and Miley came in to get some picture books.

"Hey, Zoey. Where are the picture books?" Dylan asked.

"Aisle seven. Miley likes the books that are on the third case on the left side. I would start there," I offered, pointing at aisle seven. I noticed that Eli and his little brother Max were looking at a book from that same aisle.

Dylan smiled. "Thanks. Is that Eli?"

"Yup. And his little brother Max. Go say 'hi'," I answered as I put a set of 39 Clues on the shelf I was restocking. "Max and Miley will get along very well."

"Okay. See you at home," he told me before leading Miley over to Eli. As they whispered hello and talked about books for little kids, I heard Ms. Brooks call me over to clean some books in the back.

As I was disinfecting, I glanced up every now and then to see how Eli and Dylan, two of the most important people in my life, were getting along. Before Dylan and Miley left, Max gave Miley a hug and Eli and Dylan shook hands, a grin stapled to their faces.

When I was off for the night, Eli took me home and walked me to my door. "Well, I should get going. Max is in the car and I never know when he'll wake up or what he'll do. Goodnight, Zoey. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Eli," I said.

He pulled me into a tight embrace and kissed my forehead. "Night sweetie." With that, he was down the stairs and back in his truck.

The door was pulled open and I was facing Dylan. "I approve. He's a nice guy. Spends a lot of time with his brother and he likes Miley. Said that she was cute."

"I told you," I replied, pushing my way past him and heading towards the shower. "Glad to know that you approve. It makes me happy that my two favorite guys can stand each other."

"Well, it was hard, but I managed," Dylan joked as he handed me a clean towel.

"Oh, you're a liar! You like him, Dylan, admit it," I answered with a smile.

"Yes, yes, I like him. He's a cool dude. Did you know that he's fixing up a Harley?"

"You know I'm not interested in cars. If it looks cool, then I'm all for it. No specific stuff. It's _way_ too boring. You of all people should know that." The water for my shower heated up fast and I hopped in. As I shaved my legs I heard Miley argue with Dylan for another story.

That next morning was the last day of school. During first period many people were questioning me, wondering if me and Eli were an item yet. I tried my best to ignore them. The same went on through second, third and fourth.

At lunch I sat with Claire Hager, Megan Klux, Eli, Matt Slather and John Glen.

"So? Are you guys really boyfriend and girlfriend? Didn't you go on one date?" Claire questioned, curiosity filler her eyes. Eli and I both knew that they all wanted to know but were trying to act like they really didn't care. Except, of course, for Claire.

"We went on two if you don't count when I visit her at the library. And I guess you could consider us boyfriend and girlfriend," Eli answered with a casual tone, sneaking a peak at me every once in awhile to make sure he didn't say anything wrong. At the end, I gave a slight nod.

"That's cool. Now that that's out, I wanted to let everyone know that Megan and I are dating," Matt announced while looking at Megan with an unstoppable smile. Megan blushed and smiled, looking down at her food.

"This is weird. John and I are boyfriend girlfriend, too. Huh." Claire looked around the table.

None of us really knew what to think besides that this was _very_ weird. But isn't everyone weird these days?

School my sophomore year went by really fast. Before I knew it, the summer hit. I know it's only been about a week since that day at lunch, but it seems more like five minutes.

Since then Eli and I have turned seventeen, Dylan has one more year at school and Miley is now planning to attend kindergarten this fall. One more week till she is five!

"Hey, Zoey," Eli greeted me and kissed me on my cheek. We were going to go have dinner at his house today to let me meet his family.

"Eli! How's that motorcycle comin' along? Almost done?" Dylan called from the kitchen. He was making Miley's dinner; spaghetti, green beans and milk.

"It's coming but not quite done. Another month or two and it should be good. Don't worry; you'll be one of the first people to ride it. Besides Zoey, of course," Eli replied, winking at me.

We slipped out of the house and talked about his future motorcycle till we got to his house.

"What if they don't like me?" I asked when we were outside of his door.

He put his hands on my neck and bent down to kiss me. "They will love you. Besides, Max already loves you. All you have to worry about are my parents and younger sister, Minnie. And Minnie is ten. She won't be hard to win over. Plus, my mom could love a murderer."

My arms went around his neck as I pulled him back to me again. "Alright. I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

The door was flung open by his mother. She had a smile as bright as the sun against her white apron. "Why, you must be Zoey. It's so glad to finally meet you. Eli talks about you all of the time and Max is always beggin' to go to the library and see you. Come in, come in. Meet Ed and Minnie." She ushered us into the dining room where a gray haired chubby man sat at the end. Minnie was a tiny little thing on his left with Max seated beside her.

"Zoey!" Max yelled as he ran over and jumped into my arms.

"Hello, Zoey. How are you?" Ed asked.

"I'm fine Mr. Marlinton. How are you?"

"Oh, just swell. Well go on, have a seat. This here is Minnie. Minnie?"

"Hello," Minnie acknowledged me and went back to staring at the white empty plate in front of her.

Eli pulled out my chair, next to his mother, and took the seat next to me.

The dinner went great. Minnie warmed up and turned out to be a talker. Max smiled the entire time and pitched in with random thoughts from books that he has read. Ed and Eli's mother, Ruby, were very nice and did end up thinking that I was a very sweet girl. That worry was gone.

Eli carried his plate to the kitchen and I followed with mine. "Come on, we can go watch T.V in my room." We went upstairs and laid on his bed, his arms around me and holding me against him while I played with his fingers. Max ended up coming in later on and falling asleep against me.

By the end of the night, I had won over all of his family and achieved the hard-to-do honor of having Max fall asleep in under an hour. _That_ made his family love me even more.

"They're nice. And I was worried," I said when me and Eli were sitting in his room. We were lying down again, but this time, he was flat and my head was on his chest. I was counting his heartbeats and fell asleep.

I awoke the next morning in my own bed with Eli lying shirtless on the floor.

"You fell asleep at my house so I picked you up and drove you here. Dylan was asleep so I let myself in with your key and put you in your bed. I didn't want to drive home when I was so tired so I just crashed here," Eli explained as he crawled up into bed with me.

My clothes from last night were still on.

"I didn't want to change you. It felt wrong," Eli said when he noticed I was looking at my outfit.

I smiled. "I'll be back then. It is going to be a pajama day." Gathering my pajamas, changed in the bathroom and slipped into bed again, kissing Eli good morning.

We laughed as I turned on the radio and Eli pulled me tightly against him and kissed me. I wound my fingers through his hair and wrapped my right leg around his waist. I felt his hands slide down to my waist and he pulled me even closer than before.

"Zoey! Miley and are going to go scout around for new clothes and birthday presents. We'll be back about one. It's 9:30," Dylan called before I heard the apartment door shut.

Eli rolled on top of me and propped himself up with his left elbow. My fingers went to pull him close against me. His abs were rock solid as I did so.

When he pulled away we each had a smile that went ear-to-ear.

"We have three and a half hours to ourselves," Eli informed me when he pulled me on top of him instead of the other way around. He moved his hand up and down my back as I ran my hands through his hair.

"Indeed we do," I replied with a smirk. He pulled my face down to his and I pulled myself up his body to reach him.

My fingers wrapped around his neck while his went around my waist.

We stayed like that for a good ten minutes taking time to breathe every so often. From there we went into the kitchen and had breakfast.

As I threw the poptart wrappers away, Eli's hands pulled me against him again. A giggle from me and a laugh from him. My legs were pulled up to rest on his hips while he gently put my back against the wall.

Our lips fit perfectly together, my fingers went carelessly through his hair and his hands held me up on him.

That night Miley and Dylan stayed at our grandparents.

Eli said that he was staying at a friend's house but the night was spent with me.

We finally started to go to bed at one in the morning.

He slept in a pair of Dylan's shorts and I in a soft blue nightgown. My body was pressed against his, each keeping the other warm. Nothing but sweet dreams went on.


End file.
